Another Evening on the Duhallow Way

By Alannah O'Callaghan

On Wednesday 23rd of August, the IRD walking group set off along the next section of the Duhallow Way. We started off at Croohig’s crossroads at 7pm sharp and headed off along the waymarked trail towards Millstreet. This section of the trail has a bit of everything; the walk starts on quiet country roads until you hop a stile and walk through a field which then takes you along the North side of Claragh Mountain. For those of you who haven’t walked the North side of Claragh, the trail is varied and goes from a wide grassy path to a narrow dirt path which is lined with beautiful purple heather and yellow gorse at this time if year. Just before entering the dark forestry, you walk though the most glorious patch of wildflowers as you can see in the picture. There is a steep incline coming up through the forest but this is followed by a pleasant descent down the last section of the path and another quiet road towards Mount Leader. Walking in up to Mount Leader one can’t help but stop and take in the size of the old ruin and wonder what it looked like in times past.

Continuing along, you walk what used to be the drive up to the house and down to what used to be the Mount Leader gate lodge. This is where we finished the walk and tucked into the cuppa tea and biscuits.

The walk is 8km in total with a few steep sections along the way, for those who are curious, the overall ascent on this section is approx. 240m. If you decide to complete this leg of the trail, I would recommend hiking boots and some sections can be wet underfoot after rain.

If you decide to do it when the blackberries are out, bring a container or two as there are bushes laden with berries along the way! We dropped some cars at the end of the walk and drove to the start so that we didn’t have to double back on ourselves, and I would definitely recommend this option if at all possible.

If you decide to do this, please remember to be conscious about how you park; don’t block any roads, gates or access in general, pull in tight and where possible share lifts to the start so that there aren’t an obscene number of cars parked in any one location.

If you want to join on any of our walks you can find all upcoming walks listed on the events page or in our monthly newsletter.

If you need any more information, please call Alannah on 029-60633. All of our walks are free but we do ask that you register in advance so that we know how many to expect on the day!